Rachel Knits

Sunday, July 5, 2015

Today is the end of day two of the Tour de Fleece! Today was my first day though because my Fourth of July was filled to the brim and I didn't want to rush my first few lengths of spinning. I'm Spinning with Team Spindlers and breaking in my fresh Turtlemade turkish spindle.
My goal is to spin the little over 4 ounces of fiber I purchased at the Long Island Fleece and Fiber Fair from Hampton Artistic Yarns. And then hopefully I will end up plying my singles!

I split each little braid of fiber, and combined them. I have no idea how they'll end up looking but I'm excited to see!

And here's my the beginnings of my first singles. This spindle just keeps spinning its wonderful!

Monday, June 22, 2015

I finally published my first pattern the other day :) The Pineapple Hat! My second obsession (behind knitting) is fruit so this hat is the best way to combine those. Also I'm wanting to make this hat in all white, so it looks like porcelain. Maybe in a wool/silk blend! :) I think a fruity KAL is in order for some point in the future. :)

Thursday, January 29, 2015

A Playful Day Podcast is hosting a design-a-long contest on Ravelry, and the deadline is in a couple of days! The winner of the contest will receive tech support, advice from Kate and yarn support! The details can be found on Kate's website, along with some great resources for designers and people who are just starting out to design. Also head to the ravelry group to see all the great entries thus far and to chat with others.

I wanted to share my design, which I'm excited about because it merges my two favorite (non-person) things...knitting and fruit! This is my pineapple hat:

The pineapple hat is knit with worsted weight yarn on size 8 needles and is the perfect blues buster for the winter. If i don't win the contest I will still be publishing this pattern here and on Ravelry, so look out!

I really like the idea of kitschy knits, and I some some more fun hat designs up my sleeve for the near future. Also I love looking at Gary Kennedy patterns as kitsch inspiration! I want to knit all of the fun pillows and toys!

Monday, January 19, 2015

It has taken me awhile to figure out how to exactly share this project with you. I had planned on sharing the essay I wrote for this, as this yarn bomb was my senior project to graduate from Purchase College. I think ill keep it simple though, because my reason for wanting to do this project is fairly simple. I LOVE to knit, and I love to share knitting with others. I also really wanted to work with the statues that are around my town in someway, and yarn bombing is the perfect way to do that because it does not damage whatever you are putting it on.
So I yarn bombed all of these statues in my hometown on Long Island with my hand knit hats and anyone walking past could take one in the hopes that they would pay it forward in anyway they could.
I love yarn bombs, but my only gripe is that they are not useful in a utilitarian way, (everything must be useful to me, its just the way my brain is wired!) so that is where hats were the perfect thing to make for these statues.
I bought the book "Yarn Bombing" by Mandy Moore of the blog Yarnageddon and Leanne Prain of her self-titled blog at leanneprain.com to use as fuel for my fire to keep-knitting-hats. The book features interviews with yarn bombers such as Masquerade, and Knitted Landscape

Yarn Bombing is basically a handbook to do just that, while also giving you the history and the context with which to place yourself in the yarn bombing world. Not to mention all of the pictures, patterns and tutorials. Its a great book to add to your yarn library if you're someone who has always wanted to yarn bomb or even if you're no spring chicken to the game.
It's very liberating (admittedly a little nerve wracking too!) to send your yarn creations out into the unknown.

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Now that the summer has begun and I am back home, I am organizing and tidying up my stash. It was all shoved in two big baskets, but now at least most of it, if not all will be in plain sight in all its glory. Most of it is acrylic though because I was very graciously given it by some nice ladies who also knit. Everything has a purpose though, so check back a little later in the summer to see what I do with it!I realize now that everything is visible how important it is to see everything at once; its so inspiring! It's also easy to arrange the yarn to match up interesting color combinations.

Of course right now it's a mess. Lots of caking to do, I hate those floppy skeins that acrylic yarn is always wound in.

Until next time, Happy knitting!also thank you to everyone who has been reading so far! I don't know who you are, but I know you're there! Add me on Ravelry!

Thursday, April 10, 2014

School is wrapping up a lot faster than it feels like, there's only four more weeks! ah! So far I'll be taking outdoor skills and ceramics in my next semester (which by the way, is my last semester!) Are you thinking what I'm thinking?? Custom buttons, maybe I'll learn how to make a yarn bowl or two, wee! Speaking of, have you heard of Earth Wool Fire? Its a ceramics company owned by Alan Smith, based in Portsmouth, England. They make some beautiful and unique yarn bowls as well as vases to hold your knitting needles or crochet hooks. Everything is hand made and sculpted to perfection. You can check out some progress pictures on their Instagram. And here's their Etsy shop! You also have to see the octopus bowl that he has recently been working on. One of these beauties is definitely on my wish list as well as an equally beautiful skein of yarn to sit in there when its not in use.

In other news, I have been working on my senior project some more, it's a slow process but I'm excited about it. Here's a little sneak peak...

I've been crocheting with hair, and now I'm trying out knitting on dpns. I love the idea of creating with human hair. At this point, it's not a weird concept for me, it is simply a fiber just as wool or cotton is, the only difference is that it grows on people and not a sheep or a plant. Can you get anymore self sustainable than that? Once it has been turned into an object it also no longer feels like hair or makes you think of something that came from someones head, it takes on a whole new quality.

I picked up the edge stitches from what I had crocheted so I could knit. I love crocheting, but Im in love with knitting, so I guess I was just itching to bust out the needles on this one, but I will be going back and forth between the two.

Until next time...whats the weirdest thing you knit, crocheted or just used in any craft/art project?

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

I dont normally make nice completed swatches, by normally I mean never. I generally knit a little bit of stockinette so that I can measure the stitches. Im increasingly seeing how important and beneficial it is to swatch especially after reading this blog post by The Craft Sessions about how to make your sweaters fit exactly how you intend them to. This lovely little square is for my Asymmetrical Cardigan. I knit two swatches and decided to go down a needle size after knitting the first one so I would have a slightly tighter fabric, and it also gave me better stitch definition. I wish I had photographed the other one to compare! Oh well. The one thing I didn't do was block this little guy, but when I block the sweater in the end I think it'll all work out.

I have a wee bit of actual sweater done. These are the front panels that I'm working on together. I use those safety pin-like stitch markers to keep them together otherwise I totally forget which side I just knit a row on. I also use them to keep the extra yarn from casting on out of the way.

Most of my knitting time is dedicated right now to another Where the Wild Things Are hat which is for a lucky little baby whose mother works with mine. Once it's done I shall post it. I love knitting for others, I also love knitting for myself but as long as I'm knitting I'm happy.

After I bang out a good chunk of this sweater I am going to cast on the Smocked Cable Coat! Im also am 'a scratchin to cast on a nice lacy shawl for the summer... that's a post for another day!